My story based on a Monday interview with Colorado State University president Tony Frank is in the Tuesday paper and online.

Much of what he said in the half-hour discussion didn’t make the story, and here are some of his additional comments, either amplifying on what did make the story or on other subjects:

On what CSU could do if the school, as is likely, doesn’t meet the goal to raise $110 million in seed money for a new stadium by October:

“There are going to be people who argue that, well, this means a very simple solution – we go back and we fix up Hughes. I don’t think the solution is that simple. It’s a complex topic. If you wanted to do the bare minimum with Hughes – and we’ve run these numbers ourselves and had them checked by an independent firm – you’re looking at $30 million for sewers, electric and minimal safety concrete repair.”

On why that money would have to come from the general fund:

“That’s the paradox of this whole thing. There’s no other place, if you can’t issue revenue bonds and you don’t have donor funds, you’ll issue general obligation bonds, which are in this day and age tuition-backed. That’s the conundrum. Apparently I didn’t do a great job of communicating this in the process, but that was the big advantage of the issue we proposed. Did it have risks, sure, everything has somewhat of a risk. But there was the possibility that if we did it that way, we wouldn’t impact fees, general fund, tuition. If we go back and say, well, we didn’t get there, we have to fix up Hughes and stay where we’re at, we will. That’s $30 million of general fund.”Read more…

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Marines shaking hands before the game on Guadalcanal. All-Americans Dave Schreiner (Wisconsin) and Tony Butkovich (Purdue). Both were killed in action less than six months later on Okinawa. Photo courtesy Schreiner family

ORIGINAL RUN DATE: NOVEMBER 3, 2003

WAR GAMERS
Denver-raised Bus Bergman was among
U.S. Marines who went from
Guadalcanal football to Okinawa valor

By Terry Frei
Denver Post Sports Writer

GRAND JUNCTION – Wearing shorts, T-shirts and boot-like field shoes on Christmas Eve 1944, U.S. Marine lieutenants Walter “Bus” Bergman and George Murphy warmed up with the 29th Regiment’s football team on Guadalcanal, the battle-scarred island in the South Pacific.

The tentmates and buddies had been college team captains during their senior seasons – Murphy in 1942 at Notre Dame, Bergman in 1941 at Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Fort Collins. They were about to play with and against many other college stars in the Sixth Marine Division’s “Football Classic.”

Among the military men ringing the field, the frenetic wagering continued. Bergman and Murphy knew that if the 29th lost to the opposing 4th Regiment, many of their friends would have lighter wallets, or have to make good on IOUs.

Pressure?

Not compared to what was ahead.

They knew that if they survived the island fighting in the Pacific theater, they would consider themselves fortunate. For the rest of their lives.

From one year to the next, the “Greatest Generation” dwindles. From one year to the next, Bus Bergman loses more Marine friends.

Bergman has attended many reunions, including those tied to his student-athlete days, and also to his highly successful coaching career in Colorado. But when the men of the Sixth Marine Division Association hold conventions, look one another up in their travels, or open and read Christmas cards with “Semper Fi” under the signatures, the resummoned emotions are powerful. It is as if they again are young, slim and elite fighting men. Marines who served in the same platoons or companies, and were together when comrades fell in the Battle of Okinawa, have the strongest bonds.

“They say certain guys are heroes because they did this and that,” Bergman, 83, said recently in his Grand Junction home. “I say the heroes are those guys who never came back. I’ve thought about that a lot. I think about the 60 or 70 extra years I got on them. I know I was lucky.”

Bergman for years didn’t volunteer much information about his combat experiences, even to his children – Judy Black of Washington, Walter Jr. of Grand Junction and Jane Norton of Englewood, elected Colorado’s lieutenant governor in 2002. His wife, Elinor, also a Denver native, at times is compelled to point out things Bus neglects to mention.

Little things, such as the citation that accompanied his Bronze Star.

Eagles no match for Marines

Raised near the original Elitch Gardens in northwest Denver, Bergman was a three-sport star at Denver’s North High School. At Colorado A&M, he earned 10 letters in football, basketball and baseball, and also was student body president.

In February 1942, Bergman and Aggies teammate Red Eastlack drove to Denver to enlist in the Marines. The Marines’ preference was for upperclassmen to stay in college long enough to graduate. To publicize the officer training program, the Marine brass had the star athletes “sworn in” a second time at midcourt during halftime of an A&M-Wyoming basketball game. Bergman and Eastlack were playing for the Aggies in Fort Collins, so they toweled off the sweat and raised their right hands.

As he finished his classes, Bergman didn’t respond to an eye-popping $140-a-game contract sent by the Philadelphia Eagles. After receiving his degree, he went to boot camp and Officer Candidates School, then joined the 29th Regiment at Camp Lejeune, N.C. By August 1944, he was on Guadalcanal, the island in the Solomon Islands chain taken by U.S. forces in late 1942. There, the 29th Regiment became part of the newly formed Sixth Marine Division.

Bergman, George Murphy and former Boston University tackle Dave Mears were the platoon leaders in D Company of the 29th Regiment’s 2nd Battalion. The three lieutenants shared a tent, trained and waited.

“We built our own shower at the back of the tent with a 55-gallon drum,” Mears, a retired CPA, said recently from his home in Essex, Mass. “We got a shower head someplace, and we were all set. We were living high!

“Bus was a very easygoing person and very friendly, but when it came to doing his job, he was pretty serious. George was more serious than either of us, though. At the time, he was married and his wife had just had a baby. So he was further ahead than us that way.”

Looming over the Marines was the likelihood that they soon would be fighting.

“We didn’t know where we were going,” Bergman said. “But we knew it was going to be close to the (Japanese) mainland. Football and little things kept us away from all that talk. Plus, we spent a lot of time in that tent censoring the mail.”

He laughed.

“Marines had girlfriends all over the world, and they wrote to all of ’em. We had to read it, and we were supposed to cut things out, but nobody really said anything we had to worry about that way.”

One of the makeshift programs from the Marines’ game. Gametime was changed after publication to early morning to avoid the worst heat and the name of the field was misspelled.

After several pickup games on Guadalcanal, and many beer-fueled debates among Marines about which regiment had the best players, the “Football Classic” on Christmas Eve was scheduled. Organizers mimeographed rosters and lined up a public-address system, radio announcers, regimental bands and volunteer game officials. The field was the 29th’s parade ground, which had as much coral and gravel fragments as dirt, and no grass. It was christened Pritchard Field after Cpl. Thomas Pritchard, a member of a demolition squad killed in a demonstration gone array shortly before the game.

Crowd estimates ranged from 2,500 to 10,000. With no bleachers, Marines scrambled to stake out vantage points.

Maj. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., the Sixth Division’s commander, diplomatically watched the first half on one side of the field, then switched for the second half.

Former college standouts George Murphy of Notre Dame, Dave Mears of Boston U., and Denver native Bus Bergman of Colorado State/A&M as Marine tentmates. All three played for the 29th Regiment in the Marines’ Christmas Eve game on Guadalcanal. One would be among the 12 players from the game to die in battle on Okinawa.Photo courtesy Bergman family

Bergman started in the 29th’s backfield, lining up with halfback Bud Seelinger, formerly of Wisconsin; fullback Tony Butkovich, the nation’s leading rusher in 1943 at Purdue and the Cleveland Rams’ No. 1 draft choice in 1944; and quarterback Frank Callen, from St. Mary’s of California. Murphy was one end and player-coach Chuck Behan, formerly of the Detroit Lions, was the other. Behan captained the 29th Regiment squad. The 4th Regiment team captain was Dave Schreiner, a two-time All-American at Wisconsin and winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Silver Football as the Big Ten’s most valuable player in 1942.

The 4th Regiment’s backfield included quarterback Bob Spicer, a sergeant from Leavenworth, Kan., who had played guard at Colorado in 1942.

The game was spirited, violent and inconclusive.

Neither team scored.

The ‘Mosquito Bowl’

Spicer intercepted a pass on the last play of the game.

“It was two hands above the waist,” Spicer said of the rules last week from his home in Park Ridge, Ill., “but it could be a two-handed jab to the shoulder, guts or knees. It was fun!”

Bergman said, “We hadn’t gotten to practice much, and that’s why it was a 0-0 game, even with all the talent we had.”

John McLaughry, a former Brown University star and ex-New York Giant in the 4th Marines, served as a playing assistant coach and played next to Spicer in the backfield. He and his 4th Regiment teammates wore light green T-shirts and dungarees, a better choice than the 29th’s shorts.

“It didn’t get out of hand,” McLaughry said recently from his home in Providence, R.I. “But it came pretty close.”

McLaughry wrote to his parents the day after the game.

“It was really a Lulu, and as rough hitting and hard playing as I’ve ever seen,” he said in the letter. “As you may guess, our knees and elbows took an awful beating due to the rough field with coral stones here and there, even though the 29th did its best to clean them all up. My dungarees were torn to hell in no time, and by the game’s end my knees and elbows were a bloody mess.”

In the letter, McLaughry said the stars were Dave Schreiner and Bob Herwig, a lineman at California in the mid-1930s. Bergman said Herwig was best-known among the men for being the husband of Katherine Windsor, author of the controversial, banned-in-Boston historical novel, “Forever Amber.” Herwig originally was ticketed to be one of the two game officials and was listed as such on the program. He couldn’t resist playing.

Sgt. Harold T. Boian, a Marine Corps combat correspondent who later became advertising director for the Denver Post, wrote a dispatch that was distributed by United Press and ran in many newspapers. Because of wartime secrecy, his story began:

“SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC – (Delayed) – (U.P.) – Tropical heat and the lack of equipment failed to stop the leathernecks of the Sixth Marine division when they decided it was football time back home. They arranged the Mosquito Bowl football classic.”

Boian listed many of the well-known players in the game. He didn’t mention Hank Bauer, who spelled Spicer at quarterback, a blocking position in the single wing. Bauer came to the Marines from East St. Louis (Ill.) High School and would go on to fame as a major-league baseball player, and as a manager.

Survivors don’t remember it being called the “Mosquito Bowl” at the time, and that name wasn’t used on the program.

Because the game was a tie, all wagers were “pushes.”

Bergman and the Sixth Division continued training, then left Guadalcanal for Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Islands, about 400 miles south of Japan.

“I remember that just as we were getting ready to load on our landing craft, one P-38 (fighter plane) flew over us and I felt like I could reach up and touch it,” Bergman said. “I’ve never forgotten that.”

Part of a multiservice command operating as a Tenth Army expeditionary force, the Marines went ashore on the western beaches of Okinawa on Easter, April 1, 1945. The landings were unopposed. The Japanese would make their stands elsewhere.

Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill

The 29th Marines first moved up to the northern end of the island, roughly 65 miles long.

“The only men we lost were from mines and booby traps in caves,” Bergman said. “We lost our machine gun officer and mortar officer going in one of the caves. But then we came back to the lower third, and that’s where all the trouble was.”

In the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill, Murphy and Mears both were hit on May 15.

The Tenth Army’s official Okinawa combat history, published three years later, said Murphy first ordered “an assault with fixed bayonets” against Japanese forces.

“The Marines reached the top and immediately became involved in a grenade battle with the enemy,” the combat historians wrote. “Their supply of 350 grenades was soon exhausted.

“Lieutenant Murphy asked his company commander, Capt. Howard L. Mabie, for permission to withdraw, but Captain Mabie ordered him to hold the hill at all costs. By now the whole forward slope of Sugar Loaf was alive with gray eddies of smoke from mortar blasts, and Murphy ordered a withdrawal on his own initiative. Covering the men as they pulled back down the slope, Murphy was killed by a fragment when he paused to help a wounded Marine.”

A Marine correspondent wrote of Murphy’s death at the time. That story was carried in many U.S. newspapers in May. It had Murphy making multiple trips to help carry the wounded to an aid station before he was hit as he rested. It added: “Irish George staggered to his feet, aimed over the hill and emptied his pistol in the direction of the enemy. Then he fell dead.”

Said Bergman, “One of the men in his platoon told me he pulled out his pistol and unloaded it.”

In the battle, 49 of the 60 men in Murphy’s platoon were killed or wounded.

Also on May 15, Mears’ platoon was approaching Sugar Loaf when he felt a flash of pain.

“They said it was a machine gun, and it was one bullet through my thigh,” Mears said.

Mears was evacuated to an airfield that night, then flown to Guam the next day, where he heard of Murphy’s death.

“Oh, that one was really bad,” he said. “He was just such a terrific guy. That was a real low blow.”

Mears paused, then added, “But there were so many of them …”

Suddenly, Bergman was the only tentmate remaining in the battle.

“Then all the outfits got hit pretty hard,” Bergman said. “Our company went up with others on the 18th and 19th (of May), took the hill, and stayed there. The Japs were beat up pretty good by then, and we got good tank support.

“By that last night on Sugar Loaf, I was the executive officer. I organized a couple of guys to carry ammunition and stuff to different companies up there that night. We took guys down to the first-aid tent, not so many of the wounded, but several who cracked up from the stress of the whole deal.”

In the Bronze Star citation, Maj. Gen. Shepherd said the Coloradan “organized carrying parties and supervised the distribution and delivery (of supplies) to all three companies throughout the night. When time permitted, 1st Lieut. Bergman visited the troops on the line, exposing himself to enemy fire, speaking to many, reassuring and encouraging them during the enemy’s intense counterattacks.”

U.S. forces held the hill.

Spicer, the former Colorado player in the 4th Regiment, was wounded twice on Okinawa. He suffered a shrapnel wound in the arm, but was back in the battle at the end.

“We were coming north after cleaning up the bottom of the island,” he said. “I jumped over a ditch and found a bunch of Japanese soldiers lying there. I guess somebody threw a grenade at me. That’s how I lost my eye.”

Spicer said that so matter-of-factly. “That’s how I lost my eye.”

‘Part of the game plan’

By July 2, when the campaign was declared over, 12 players in the Football Classic had died on Okinawa.

“It was just part of the game plan,” Bergman said, shrugging and summoning a sports analogy for war, reversing the usual practice. “We knew it was going to happen, and it did happen.”

After the island was secure, Bergman visited Murphy’s grave at the Sixth Marine Division Cemetery.

They were “only” a dozen among 2,938 Marines killed or missing in action on Okinawa. U.S. Army dead and missing numbered 4,675.

Many of the survivors, including Bergman, were ticketed to serve in an invasion of Japan. Bergman was given a “G-2” summary of the Sixth Marine Division’s strategy on Okinawa. In the letter on the first page from Maj. Gen. Shepherd, dated Aug. 1, 1945, the Sixth Division’s commanding officer declared: “I believe that the lessons learned at so dear a price on (Okinawa) should be published and distributed for the benefit of combat units who will land again on Japanese soil.”

New President Harry S. Truman approved the use of atomic bombs against Japan, and they were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August.

“We were real happy it was going to end the war,” Bergman said. “Before that, we knew we were going to go to the mainland.”

Instead, the invasion of Japan was unnecessary after the September surrender, and Bergman’s unit drew occupation duty in China.

Spicer returned to Boulder, lettered three more seasons for the Buffaloes at guard and was the team captain in 1948. Incredibly, he did it with one eye. After a long career in the banking business, he retired in 1989.

In 1946, Bergman returned to Fort Collins and earned his master’s degree. He went into coaching at Fort Lewis College in Durango, then moved to Mesa College in Grand Junction in 1950. He coached the Mesa football and baseball teams, and the baseball team three times was the runner-up in the national junior college tournament – an event Bergman helped Grand Junction land as the annual host. He retired from coaching in 1974, and from the faculty in 1980. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Bergman often thinks about his Marine buddies.

About those who survived the war. And about those who didn’t.

POSTSCRIPT:
Bus Bergman died on March 28, 2010 in Grand Junction.
Bob Spicer died in April 2006 in Park Ridge, Ill.

Colorado State picked up perhaps one of its more important football commitments Thursday when speedster Deron Thompson of Northwest High School in Wichita announced that he will play for the Rams this fall.

NCAA rules prohibit college coaches from speaking about recruits until they are signed. But CSU coach Jim McElwain has said the roster continues to be in need of playmakers with speed.

Thompson, 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, has been timed in 4.33 for 40 yards, according to Rivals.com. He is ranked by that recruiting website as the ninth-best senior prospect in the state of Kansas.

CULVER CITY, Calif. — If you have DirecTV and want to watch the Pac-12 Network, here’s hoping you have a sports bar near you. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday that the satellite service provider has not agreed to carry the league’s TV network for the second straight year.

“We’re getting rope-a-doped by DirecTV,” Scott said here during the Pac-12 Media Day.

Scott is quietly fuming over the impasse. DirecTV, based in El Segundo, Calif., had 35.6 million subscribers as of Dec. 2012. Many are in Colorado where fans of Colorado’s new conference must either switch cable providers or find someone who carries it.

Standing outside one of Sony Pictures’ studios, Scott held up a list of all the channels DirecTV carries.

“Here are the 50 sports channels DirecTV’s carrying,” Scott said. “Some of them you’ve heard of. Some of them you probably don’t watch. They’re carrying all these sports networks yet they won’t carry (us). The Big Ten Network’s in here. YES Network. They’re making the argument, ‘We don’t want all of our customers to pay for something only a few watch.’ All 50 all the customers have to pay for. Obviously, they’re trying to draw a line in the sand with us.”

I had a nice phone conversation with former DU hockey coach George Gwozdecky, who sounds energized about his next challenge. Not everything we talked about was fit to print, but the following is fair game:

— Gwozdecky said he encouraged his three assistants at DU — associate head coach Steve Miller, No. 2 assistant David Lassonde and director of hockey operations David Tenzer — to accept being retained by new coach Jim Montgomery. “Jim obviously recognized that Steve and David are two of the best guys at what they do in the country, and the program needs them,” Gwozdecky said. “One-hundred percent, I supported them in staying.” That’s not to say Gwozdecky won’t eventually lure them away …

— Gwozdecky, who has another year left on his contract at DU, has not spoken to athletic directors or others affiliated with Ohio State, Maine or Connecticut, each with head hockey-coaching vacancies, but he admitted all three jobs are very attractive. Osiecki was ousted Monday after compiling a 46-50-16 record in three years for the Buckeyes, who are moving to the Big Ten Hockey Conference next season. Tim Whitehead was released from Maine after 12 years. And UConn, which has seemingly not been as interested in hockey as its basketball teams, is moving to Hockey East on the heels of a 19-14-4 season (14-10-3 Atlantic Hockey Association). The Huskies have fielded a team since 1960 but have won 20 games just twice, and not since 1998-99. “When UConn does things it’s in a full, complete way, and that could be a good up-and-coming program, a great addition to Hockey East,” Gwozdecky said.

— Gwozdecky might just collect his DU paychecks for a year before returning to the bench, but he reiterated he will be back. He said his contract states that if he takes another job before his current one expires, he will only be paid the lesser difference by DU. My records have his annual salary of around $221,000, so if he takes the job at big-money OSU, DU will be off the hook.

Former Colorado receivers coach Bobby Kennedy was named to the same position at Iowa, the school announced Thursday.

The move was long speculated for the Northern Colorado and Boulder High graduate. He replaces Erik Campbell who resigned in January. Iowa’s 4-8 record was its worst since 2000 as it finished with only seven touchdown passes, 121st in the country, and 11th in the Big Ten with 5.8 yards per pass attempt.

Kennedy, 46, came to Colorado when Jon Embree became head coach for the 2011 season. The staff was let go after last year’s 1-11 record, the worst in school history.

According to a report from the Lafayette, Ind., Journal & Courier newspaper, Colorado’s top target to fill its football head-coaching vacancy, Cincinnati’s Butch Jones, is toured the Purdue campus Sunday.

Jones, 23-14 in three seasons at Cincinnati and 50-27 for his coaching career, is thought to be No. 1 on Purdue’s list.

The Journal & Courier reported that Jones flew into Lafayette, Ind., on a Purdue plane, along with Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke. Jones’ wife, Barbara, accompanied her husband, and Burke’s wife Kate also was on the plane.

According to reports of flight schedules, Jones spent about four hours at Purdue — arriving at 11:45 a.m. local time in Lafayette and departing just after 3:30 p.m. for a flight back to an airport in Middletow, Ohio, near Cincinnati.

If you love hockey and can afford 11 minutes of your life, watch the video above and enjoy the best of Air Force coach Frank Serratore.

Hey, I’ve been doing this for 17-some years, covered the Stanley Cup Finals and three NCAA title-game runs, but nothing is more enjoyable than to talk to Frank over the phone or after a game. He has an analogy for everything, and they’re all beauties. He is so down to earth, always accommodating, always hilarious and never rude.

Today’s polls are the last before Sunday’s 6 p.m. announcement of the first BCS rankings. The only rankings that really matter are Nos. 1 and 2 and if the rankings were released today, it would surely be Alabama, Oregon, currently one-two in the USA Today coaches rankings, which makes up a third of the BCS formula.

I talked to Jerry Palm, the BCS guru out of Indiana, and he says South Carolina could jump Oregon in the first rankings. That will certainly happen if South Carolina wins Saturday at LSU, No. 8 in the coaches poll. Oregon is idle.

Today’s college football schedule stinks. There are only two games matching Top 25 teams: No. 9 West Virginia at No. 25 Baylor and No. 14 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State. And since Ohio State at Michigan State is in the Big Ten it doesn’t really count.

Here are the games I find the most intriguing:

No. 12 Texas (3-0) at Oklahoma State (2-1), 5:50 p.m. MDT. These two teams have had wild games in the past and this one should be, too. Oklahoma State appears to have major defensive problems and Texas seems to have solved its offensive problems from last year with red-hot sophomore quarterback David Ash. Stillwater is a real tough place to play, much harder than Austin, and a night start will make it even crazier.

No. 18 Oregon State (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) at Arizona (3-1, 0-1). Are the Beavers that good? No other team in the country has beaten two top 20 teams this year and Arizona was ranked until getting drubbed at Oregon last week. Both teams are the most improved in the conference and I want to see how OSU’s revamped defense does against Arizona’s explosive spread offense. I want to see if said spread offense can show a pulse in the red zone after going zip-for-6 at Oregon.

No. 25 Baylor (3-0) at No. 9 West Virginia (3-0), 10 a.m. West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith is the leader by default of a dwindling Heisman Trophy race. Baylor misses last year’s defense as much as Robert Griffin III. Smith could run up big numbers and put himself in prime position for the next two months of the Heisman watch. If he flops, he’ll join the likes of Matt Barkley, Montee Ball and Landry Jones on the outside looking in.

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Just got through watching Wisconsin struggle to beat UTEP, 37-26. UTEP, coming off seven straight losing seasons, was within four points in the fourth quarter. So let’s make it official. Let’s make 2012 another Bash The Big Ten Year. The nation’s most overrated conference has done nothing to impress.

To wit:

* Against the five other “power” conferences, through early afternoon Saturday, the Big Ten was 7-9. Maybe the new conference favorite is Northwestern. It’s 4-0 with wins over Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Boston College.

* The Big Ten has not been competitive against traditional powers. Michigan opened the season by getting steamrolled by Alabama in Arlington, Texas, and Michigan State got rocked, at home, 20-3 by Notre Dame. And should we throw in Nebraska’s 36-30 loss to UCLA which made the Bruins believe?

Everyone always compares first-year coaches and their progress. How about we check up on second-year coaches? For Colorado, as you can imagine, it isn’t pretty.

Jon Embree is one of 21 coaches in their second year at their school. He is the only one who’s 0-3. Think he had a tough rebuilding project? How about Minnesota’s Jerry Kill? The Gophers were picked 11th in the Big Ten, only ahead of Indiana, and are 3-0. OK, they won at UNLV and at home against New Hampshire, an FCS school, and Western Michigan.

But doesn’t that compare to Colorado State, Sacramento State and Fresno State?

Once again, the Pac-12 Conference lived up to its billing as the “Conference of Champions.”

In the Directors Cup which awards points for results in men’s and women’s sports, the Pac-12 led all leagues in the top 25 with six representatives. The Big Ten (five schools in top 25) and SEC (five) tied for second, followed by the ACC (four), Big 12 (four) and Big East (one).

Stanford earned the the Directors Cup title for the 18th consecutive year. The Cardinal won national championships in women’s soccer and women’s water polo and placed fourth or better in four other sports.

I find it interesting that the Pac-12 office grandfathers in previous national championships by new league members Colorado (22) and Utah (20) when proclaiming that the conference has reached 450 NCAA team titles.

But I get it. The more the merrier. And 450 is impressive.

The Pac-12 reached that milestone this week when the University of Southern California defeated Virginia for the men’s tennis championship.

So far during this academic year alone, the Pac-12 tops the nation with eight NCAA championships, three more than the second-place Big Ten.

The CU athletic department also counts two other national championships for the school: 1990 in football and an AIAW-sanctioned women’s skiing title prior to women’s sports coming under the NCAA umbrella in the early 1980s.

“In terms of aspirations, we spent a lot of time about talking about where this team needs to be and we are hooked at the hip for what those expectations are,” Graham said. “Simply put, it’s our expectation to return to greatness, to be ranked in the top 25 in the country and consistently in the NCAA Tournament.”

Graham also talked about his new coach’s background, and Williams got into what kind of team he will field in the Mountain West. Here are the highlights:

Don’t feel sorry for Wisconsin-Green Bay, getting only a seventh seed at 30-1. Believe it or not, the Phoenix went through the entire season without playing a ranked team. Parity in the women’s game? Sure hasn’t reached the Horizon League.

Poor Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls bounced back from the tragedy of losing their top two coaches to a November plane crash and fought their way onto the bubble. But at 16-12 and 8-10, tied for sixth in the Big 12, they were the first one left out of the bracket.

* Big Ten got a record seven teams in the tournament but second-place Ohio State (25-6, 11-5 league) only got a No. 8 seed. If it gets past Florida, it must play unbeaten Baylor. Committee chair Greg Christopher said his committee actually had sixth-place Nebraska (24-8, 10-6) ranked ahead of the Buckeyes.

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Colorado has 23 wins for just the second time (24 in 2010-11). The 47 wins over the last two years is a school-best for any two season span.

NCAA BOUND: Colorado receives the Pac-12 Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the Buffaloes will make their first appearance since 2003 just the third since 1970. This will be Colorado’s 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament with an all-time record of 9-12. CU’s best finish was a trip to the 1955 Final Four.

CARLON MOP: Senior Carlon Brown was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and sophomore Andre Roberson joined Brown on the All-Tournament Team. Brown averaged 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals over the four games while shooting an even 50 percent from the field (25-of-50). Roberson averaged 14.8 points and 10.3 rebounds.

ROBERSON ON FIRE: Sophomore Andre Roberson shot 66.7 percent during the tournament (20-of-30). Roberson made 11 straight field goal attempts dating back to the game winning put back against Oregon in the quarterfinals. His streak ties for the third longest, and just one off the school record of 12 held by teammates House Guest and Shaun Vandiver one year apart. Roberson’s 11 straight are the most on the road or at a neutral site. His 6-of-6 performance from the field against Cal, which included two 3-pointers, was a career-best percentage wise.

SERIES NOTES: Colorado claims the season series from Arizona 2-1 and improves its overall lead in the series to 10-6. Arizona claims the season series from Colorado 2-1 and reduces the Buffaloes lead in the series to 9-7. This was the first postseason meeting between the two teams.

FOUR IN FOUR: The last (and only) time CU played four games in four days: March 6-9, 1934 … four games in Kansas. CU coach that year was Hank Iba, the one year he spent in Boulder before going to Oklahoma State. This is the first time CU has won four games in as many days in its history.

CU is the first team to win four games in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament history and among the big six conferences, CU is the ninth team since 1952 to accomplish the feat. Connecticut won five games in the Big East Conference Tournament last season.

1985 – Auburn (SEC)

2000 – Arkansas (SEC)

2001 – Iowa (Big Ten)

2006 – Syracuse (BIG EAST)

2008 – Georgia (SEC)

2008 – Pittsburgh (BIG EAST)

2009 – Mississippi State (SEC)

2011 – Connecticut (BIG EAST) – Only team to win 5 games.

2012 – Colorado (Pac-12)

It has never happened in the Big 12 or ACC Tournament, just once in the Big Ten Tournament, three times in the Big East Tournament and a ton in the SEC, but only four times since 1952.

REBOUND REVERSAL: Colorado was outrebounded in its first three tournament games and held a minus-7.7 margin. Arizona was a plus-5.5 in its two games. In the championship game Colorado enjoyed a 37-29 edge on the boards. CU improved to 15-2 when outrebounding its opponent.

QUICK GAMERS: Spencer Dinwiddie made his first four three 3-point shots, including three in the first half, after going just 1-of-7 in the previous three tournament games…Colorado led at all four halftimes of the tourney, all by two points or less: 25-23 vs. Utah, 34-33 vs. Oregon, 28-27 vs. California and 30-28 vs. Arizona. The Buffaloes improve to 17-3 this year leading at half, 13-2 against Pac-12 opponents…Colorado scored only three points in the final 9:09 and was scoreless for a span of 8:46 where the score went from 50-38 to 51-45. CU missed seven shots in that span and the only point was an Andre Roberson free throw.

BOYLE IN POSTSEASON: Tad Boyle is now 9-2 in postseason games (6-1 conference, 3-1 NIT)… he passes Ricardo Patton for the most postseason coaching wins in school history (Patton was 8-18 in 11 seasons). He has six conference tournament wins in just two seasons, equaling Patton’s record of six (he was 6-12).

CU COACHES / POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS

(postseason conference tournaments began in 1977)

BY PERCENTAGE CONFERENCE NCAA N.I.T. OVERALL

Coach (Seasons) W-L Pct. W-L Pct. W-L Pct. G W L Pct.

Tad Boyle (2) 6-1 .857 0-0 .000 3-1 .750 11 9 2 .818

Frosty Cox (13) …… ….. 2-4 .333 3-1 .750 10 5 5 .500

H.B. Lee (6) …… ….. 3-3 .500 0-0 .000 6 3 3 .500

Sox Walseth (20) …… ….. 3-3 .500 0-0 .000 6 3 3 .500

Joe Harrington (5) 0-5 .000 0-0 .000 4-2 .667 11 4 7 .364

Tom Miller (4) 2-4 .333 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 6 2 4 .333

*Ricardo Patton (11) 6-12 .333 1-2 .333 1-4 .200 26 8 18 .308

Tom Apke (5) 1-5 .167 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 6 1 5 .167

Bill Blair (6) 1-5 .167 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 6 1 5 .167

Jeff Bzdelik (3) 1-3 .250 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 4 1 3 .250

Totals 17-35 .327 9-12 .429 11-8 .579 92 37 55 .413

Note: Ricardo Patton took over as interim coach in the 1995-96 season; the Big 8 postseason loss that year is in his record.

New CSU football coach Jim McElwain with his family at his introductory news conference in December. With him are children JoHanna, Jerret, and Elizabeth; and wife, Karen.

My story on new CSU coach Jim McElwain is in the Tuesday newspaper and posted online. Read it here. By necessity, it is a snapshot of our extensive interview, conducted last Friday before the confirmation of the Mountain West-Conference USA merger. As I did with a similar piece about CSU President Tony Frank in December, I’ll pass along a more extensive transcript of our conversation here. Some of this touches on what he has discussed since his hiring; much goes beyond that. I’ve eliminated what I used in the story, so this is supplemental. Read more…

My story based on my interview with Colorado State University President Tony Frank is in the paper Sunday. Read it here. A similar story on my visit with University of Colorado President Bruce Benson is scheduled to run Monday. I met with Frank on Wednesday in Fort Collins and Benson on Friday in Denver.

The quotes used in the Frank newspaper/online story only scratched the surface of what the CSU president said. The transcript below includes most of that 50-minute conversation. For flow purposes, I’ve eliminated some of my prompting or follow-up questions within Frank’s responses, and also rearranged the order of some of the topics. I also didn’t include some general (non-revelatory) comments about the status of the coaching search that I knew would be out of date by the time the story ran.

Here, Frank goes into far greater detail than in the story about such things as the end of Steve Fairchild’s coaching tenure, the hiring of Jack Graham as athletic director, the possibility of an on-campus stadium in the future, and the dilemmas college administrations and athletic departments face in trying to build winning football programs while maintaining their integrity. The reference to Oregon here is in part because we both lived and worked in that state in the early 1990s. Frank was at Oregon State University; I was at the Portland Oregonian. Read more…

I was all set to blog about Joe Paterno’s two press conferences Tuesday and neither took place. The school cancelled the one on campus scheduled for 10:20 a.m. MST and then he didn’t appear on the weekly Big Ten Conference call at 11:20 a.m. MST. They didn’t even have a replacement.

ESPN reported that Paterno wanted to appear on campus but was told he couldn’t. His son then announced an impromptu press conference was scheduled off campus for his dad. That was cancelled, too. His next public appearance will be at today’s practice.

If Penn State had been this decisive when Jerry Sandusky’s pedophile allegations surfaced, they wouldn’t be facing a complete erasure of the football program and athletic department. Good job, guys. You protected your coaches but not the children.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.